


Red Flag

by ArynjaT



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 01:13:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArynjaT/pseuds/ArynjaT
Summary: He wasn't to blame and yet he had been chosen as the Black Sheep. It wasn't the first time either. It had been his designated role for a very long time.(Please excuse english mistakes. My native language is german)





	

_Solitude. His muscles were tense and his jaw was clenched. He remembered their eyes resting upon him. Anger burning in them for false reasons. He didn't set fire to Arkadia, didn't blow that station up. He wasn't to blame and yet he had been chosen as the Black Sheep. It wasn't the first time either. It had been his designated role for a very long time. It was the biggest prank the universe had pulled on him and it followed John Murphy everywhere he went. Perhaps it was all just a matter of bad luck. He had been 13 years of age when everything went downhill._

 

„ _John, have you done your homework yet?“, he heard a deep but gentle voice ringing in his head. To this day he didn't understand how his father had been able to catch him whenever he tried to sneak out, no matter how careful he had been in preparation. It was a talent that came with parenthood obviously. It had happened quite alot, that he was caught just as he was about to pass through the door. He still could remember that one exact day tho:_

 

„Sure have...“, it was a lie, John hated homework, infact he hated going to school in general, but that was nothing his dad needed to know. So he hoped, that the lie would work, unlike the last ten times he had tried it. He wasn't one who easily gave up.. „Johnny, I know you have not done a thing.“, his father sighed and pointed at the table, where his school books were still laying in a heap. Okay, perhaps it hadn't been the smartest idea of him to let them collect dust there, but he would remember that for the next time. The game wasn't over yet. „And? I already did all my work. Believe me dad.“, young John crossed his arms, trying to look tougher and older than he really was.

 

His father only sighed again at the response. Parental instinct was so annoying, it was like he couldn't hold a secret from his dad, no matter how much he tried. „John!“, he hated when his name was spoken in this way, authority sucked ass. „Two choices. Either you do your homework now and I even help you with it. Then you can go out later. Or you don't do your homework and go out now, but when you come back you will have house arrest for the next... let's see.. two weeks.“, now his father was crossing his arms as well, he could be strict.

 

John furrowed his brow at the choice he was given. Rationally the first choice was the better one and he knew that. But that was not what this was about. This was about winning, and you could only win, by not doing what was expected of you. So he huffed and stared at his dad angrily for a moment, before turning around and stepping through the door, to the hallways of the Ark.

„As if you could tell me what to do...“, he mumbled as the doors closed behind him. For a moment he thought his dad would come after him to catch him and bring him back inside. Infact he was even surprised that it didn't happened. Then he was pouty about it, because that meant he definitly would get house arrest. „Fuck it...“, he kicked some dust from the ground and looked down to his crossed arms. Now he regretted his choice, but he was too proud to step back inside now. Not that there was anything in particular that he wanted to do, once he left home. His best friend Bellamy took studying alot more serious than he did. So he never had time at this hour of the day and Murphy didn't want to hang out with most other teens. They always called him 'Beaker', due to the size of his nose and it annoyed the heck out of him. Who needed other people anyway, when there was so much you could do on your own?

 

_Murphy remembered this day quite well, because it had been the infection date. He still did not know where exactly he had caught it. Whether he had contracted the disease from another person or if it had just been lingering in the air. In the end tho he got sick. He wasn't the only one to get the flu, but he surely was the youngest one. „What do you mean, there is no medicine for my son?“, he could still hear the words, his father had shouted at Dr. Griffin. Of course there hadn't been medicine for him. As a son of a mechanic John had just not been important enough to get something that was only available in limited quantities, but his father hadn't been able to accept it. The days following the argument with the doctor John had fallen into delirium and that was, when his father took the initiative and stole the flu medication. The medication helped him and he soon started to feel better. Of course his dad lied to him about how he got it. He would not have wanted to give him any reason to worry. Alex Murphy was a very protective father. John would have never found out where the medication came from. But all was revealed to him on a fateful day two months later, when the guards came:_

 

„Alexander Murphy!“, there was a heavy knock on the door and the sound of the voice that was heard through the door startled his parents even more than him. The game of cards they had been playing was immediatly stopped and his parents dropped the cards to the table in unison. John immediatly looked to his mother, when he noticed her frozen in motion. „What's up?“, he only mouthed the words. It was evident something was wrong and his parents knew exactly what. „Open the door.“, the stern voice continued. His father rose from the seat opposite of him, but it was his mother, that walked to the door and opened it slowly. „Miss Murphy, we would like to talk to your husband.“, when John saw who was saying those words he froze as well. Outside the door two guards were waiting to be lead in and on the Ark, that could mean nothing good. „I'm here!“, his father finally moved passed the table and joined his mother at the door, putting his hand onto her shoulder. „Alexander Murphy! We have come to arrest you on the charge of theft.“, the leading guard spoke up again, „You can't!“, his mother shouted and John saw how his father squeezed her shoulder lightly.

 

„We have evidence, that you stole medication. Don't try to deny it, we have it on tape.“, the second guard was speaking now towards his father. „It was for my son. He was sick, I couldn't let him die.“, as John heard his father speak it felt like his stomach turned inside out. „Dad...“, he called out, „Please, don't take him..“, he looked at the guards, pleading with them. His words didn't show any effect on the guards tho, „You know the rules Mr. Murphy.“, it was sickening how compassionate they sounded, when it was clear, what would happen to his father. Why wouldn't they not just leave him be if they felt so sorry for it as they sounded. „I know, I know.“, his father took a deep breath, obviously trying to keep his composure as he turned around to look at John „Don't worry, all will be fine. Be strong...“, then he turned to his mother again and gave her a kiss on the forehead, whispering something into her ear, before turning to the guard: „Alright, I'm coming with you.“

 

As John watched his father step out the door he couldn't keep his eyes from getting teary. He knew nothing would be fine. It never was. When you commited any crime on the Ark, the punishment was floating. His father would be floated, he knew he would.

 

_That day had been the last time he had seen his father. His last words had stayed with him ever since: „Be strong!“ The day his father was killed, he did also loose his mother. She blamed him for what had happened, because she had loved his father so much. It was her way of coping with things, she needed someone to blame to ease the pain. It was the first time John became a black sheep, the first time blame for something crucial was put on him. It was also the one single time, he accepted that blame._

 

_Nowadays he had enough distance to see things from a different angle. He had been a teenager, it had only been normal not to do everything his parents had wanted him to do. But shortly after his fathers death John hated himself for leaving home when his father had told him to stay. As if things would have turned out differently then. He still would have left his home eventually and perhaps he would have still caught the flu. Nobody could know for certain, what would have happened, but back then it seemed only convenient to blame himself for his fathers demise._

 

_After his fathers death, his whole life had changed, everything had been turned upside down. Murphy had been forced to grow up quickly, he had to care for himself and for his mother. Nobody else would after all._

 

 

 

 


End file.
